Chapter 70 – Crouch Sr.
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“This will be the third task?’ Aerith watched the maze growing on the Quidditch ground, and her eyes started shining. She used the system to send a message to Cloud and call him over.

“As much as I wanted to see. I doubt one of those big moves will help you here,” Bagman shrugged, “But don’t worry. I am sure you are going to be amazing!”

“Right…right…do you mind if I tour this place? I’ll stay a little longer.”

“Sure, sure. I’ll show the others around.”

Aerith ran into the maze, turning the corner, and when she was far away, sure that no one would see her, she told Cloud that it was safe. And the next moment, he appeared in front of her, looking around, “So this is the third task?”

Aerith pounced on him, taking his lips, closing her eyes, “Who cares.”

Cloud ran his fingers through her hair, gripping her head, planting insistent kisses on her lips. He held her thighs as she wrapped her legs around his waist and pushed back against the bushes. His lips kissed her jaws, placing the thumb on her lip, pushing it in her mouth, kissing her neck.

She pulled her away from the hedges, and her wizard robe dropped to the ground. His fingers stroked the buttons of her shirt, opening them, stroking her cleavage, kissing it.

He put his hand inside her shirt, his lips tracing the pink bra, and he opened the hook, and Aerith tightened the grip around his waist.

She pulled the straps down before pulling out the bra and dropping it on the ground. She felt the palm of his hand stroking her back, and she arched it, feeling his lips brush against her chest, reaching her nipples, gently sucking them.

Cloud closed his eyes before abruptly pulling away and cupping her boob, tilting his head in confusion, “Did you grow a size?”

“No, they were always this big,” Aerith sneakily looked away, “I am a big girl, you know. But I am still growing.”

“Right…I know how much you can grow…remember? This is different…did you?”

“Cloud!!!”

Cloud looked up, seeing her blushing, embarrassed face and teary eyes. He leaned forward, kissing her, “I like yours too.”

Aerith kissed his neck, nibbling, “Not about you…so shut up, and enjoy.”

Cloud closed his eyes, putting his hand on her thigh, pulling down her panties, and nibbling on her earlobe when both had to abruptly stop.

Cloud put her down, and she hastily picked up her wizard robe, standing behind him, wearing her wizard robe and closing the buttons of her shirt simultaneously. They looked in the same direction, the one they felt someone was coming from.

“Oh, wait, he must be outside the hedges,” Aerith stuck her tongue out, “Did you forget that we are in a maze?”

Cloud gave her a sidelong look, “I didn’t even know this was a maze.”

“Sometimes, you should just agree to these things,” Aerith pouted.

Cloud kissed her, walking to the dead end, and passed through it as if it wasn’t there. He peeked on the other side, seeing Crouch walking over. He was about to pull away when he realized that Crouch was disheveled, looking no better than a homeless beggar.

‘Ignore him and move on,’ Cloud took a deep breath and pulled back, scratching his head.

“Cloud? What happened?”

“Well…Winky,” Cloud called for the house-elf, these elves, they somehow knew when someone took their name and came for them. She appeared in front of him, bowing, “Yes. Master?”

“Crouch is on the other side of his hedge. He seems disheveled. Take him back to our house and take care of you?”

Winky looked up with big eyes, “Old …master?! Disheveled!!!”

She wanted to go but couldn’t since she thought it would be rude to her current master.

“Go, those are your orders.”

Winky’s tears started running over her face, and she bowed, “Thank you!! Master!!”

“Go away.”

“Yesss!!! Winky will go away now and follow orders!!!” She teleported, and Cloud passed through the hedge to look at Winky, panicking, crying over the condition of her old master, who was babbling. She took him and teleported again.

Cloud pulled back again, only to be met with Aerith’s pouty face. He informed Tifa through System Communications, and she appeared in front of them, “What…was so urgent?”

She stopped, rolling her eyes over Aerith’s disheveled clothes and rolling them, “Don’t tell me.”

“What, not because of me,” Aerith curled her lips, “I think it was about Mr. Crouch?”

“He’s back home. Let’s take a trip,” Cloud said, teleporting to Riverdale House.

Tifa looked over to Aerith, who shrugged, and the two teleported.

However, when she could look around the house, she realized someone else was the old man hanging onto Cloud, babbling.

“Dumbledore…I need to see Dumbledore,” Crouch sat in front of Cloud, gripping his shirt, “Did…did a stupid thing…must tell….”

“Old Master!!!!” Winky cried for him, wiping her tears, trying to remind him.

“You…who are…you?” He asked Winky, only to make her cry even harder.

“What is going on?”

“Unforgivable Curses…Cruciatus…maybe even Imperius.”

“The Triwizard Tournament!”

“Yeah,” Cloud placed his palm in front of Crouch’s face, and he fell asleep.

“What could they possibly want?” Aerith raised her eyebrows, “If they wanted to kill Harry….”

“There were plenty of chances to do that,” Cloud closed his eyes, “I…I have seen Tom Riddles’s life. Not once or twice, but many times, Genesis, Sephiroth, and Angeal have analyzed his personality. If he is pushed to the brink, sure, he’d let others kill Harry. But…if he has the strength to lift the wand…he’d want to do it himself.”

“So someone is going to bring Voldemort to Hogwarts and use the Maze to kill them?”

“Or…” Aerith blinked, “Bring Harry to Voldemort?”

“How. He can’t teleport, not as they can force him.”

“Can’t they?” Tifa narrowed her eyes, “We were forcefully teleported at the start of the year.”

“Portkey,” Cloud covered his face, “I thought of that before, but Aerith’s there. How can they even imagine Harry reaching the Portkey before her.”

“Two ways, I can think of,” Aerith raised her two fingers, “One, they kill whoever comes first and put the Portkey back in its place since the Portkey makes a scene. The second, you take the competition out while helping the one you want to win. So, who tried to help Harry win this thing. Or make sure that he passes? And who’s the one who is going to sneak attack me.”

“Bartemius Crouch…Harry…Voldemort…Triwizard Tournament…what is it that ties them together? Who is the one working for Voldemort.”

“I know!!! I know!!!!” Winky shouted, catching them off guard; she covered her face, still crying.

“Who?” Aerith knelt in front of Winky, stroking her head, “Who? Winky?”

“Bartemius!!! Crouch!! JUNIOR!!!!”

Looking over her shoulder, seeing Tifa nod, Aerith asked, “Can you tell me everything that happened? And we’ll try our best to save your Old Master.”

“But…but…Master only has to order!!! And Winky!”

“You want this. It’s a Master’s job to take care of their House Elves…the least we can do is make sure you don’t feel you have failed your Old Master.”

“But I did! Winky did. Winky was responsible for keeping Master’s son under the effects of the Imperio Curse and caring for him! I failed! He broke free!”

Tifa leaned forward, “Then that runs in the family…Mr. Crouch also broke free, right? So, that’s not your fault. You just had amazing Masters.”

Winky started howling louder, sobbing, yet somehow she did manage to go through the story of the Crouch Family.

While the father was a strict, rigid worker of the Ministry, honest to a fault, to the point he sent his son to Azkaban, But at the end of the day, he couldn’t, so he put the Imperio Curse on him, and kept him at home, to make sure he didn’t run away or cause any trouble. It was better than the Dementors.

Sad story, but it became troubling when Junior got free and made that Dark Mark. Winky was sacked after that, and without her, he and his friends somehow got to Senior. Triwizard Tournament was revived.

“So, where is he?” Tifa looked over to Cloud, sitting on the chair in front of the fireplace, lost in thought.

“Cloud? You hearing?”

“No…” Cloud closed his eyes, reflecting on his memory, “I can’t remember. Where was it…?”

‘Help me remember.’

“Hmph…look here, Cloud,” Sephiroth appeared in front of him, and the world got washed away like paint, showing him the memory of when he pulled Hermione and used the Marauder’s map.

Hermione placed her finger on Malfoy’s classroom, but Sephiroth shifted it upwards, putting her finger down under a name, “Bartemius Crouch.”

Cloud took a deep breath, and Sephiroth disappeared, with the memory that he was seeing, “Moody.”

“Moody?” Tifa tilted her head in confusion, “Although Aerith said that he smells like Dark Magic, wasn’t it because he was using the spells to teach?”

“I used Marauder’s Map to find Malfoy, and it showed the name…Bartemius Crouch. If I were in my right mind, I would have noticed.”

“Huh…right under our noses,” Aerith scratched her cheek, “I wonder if he has been helping Harry out. Now that we know what to search for. We should be able to find clues…but what do we do about him?”

“Winky, keep him safe, and we’ll look into what we can do. Maybe call Dumbledore over to meet him?”

“Yeah. Let’s start with that.”

Aerith stretched her body, “Not what I was expecting when I asked you to make out with me.”

“Not what I was expecting too.”

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